Chapter 33
Massimo
All the way back to shore all I can think about is the fact they almost had me with my pants down.
A few minutes earlier, and Sophia and I would both be dead.
No one fucking knew we were on that yacht but the captain.
I didn’t even tell Leandro until earlier in the day when I responded to his text and told him to bring Sophia.
No one fucking knew I was on the yacht. Damn my arrogance for thinking that Enrico and Mario weren’t needed and that the Amortes couldn’t form an attack while we thought we had them all in our sights.
Weaselly fucking family. This is on me and they will pay for this dearly.
A vow I will make them understand as I put them in their grave.
Because I wasn’t fucking followed. I know a fucking tail when one is on my ass.
No, somehow someone got close enough to me to plant a bug, a device that can tail me or hear every fucking word I said.
Or someone got close enough to Leandro to put a bug on his phone and followed him when he brought Sophia.
It can’t be one that sends out a signal because the sweeps would have picked it up, but damn it, technology is getting more advanced and the hackers keep getting better and better too.
The minute we stop at shore, I hold up my phone and Leandro’s. Each and every one of my brothers knows exactly what’s expected without saying a word. They each dig into their pockets and then crush their own phones under the heels of their boots while I do the same.
Sophia’s eyes go wide. “I did not do this. I mean, back there, yes, but I mean, back there, I did that…” She shakes her head. “But I did not do anything that would have caused this attack on you and your family.”
I wrap her in my arms. “This is not on you, Sophia. I’ll explain everything when we get back to the estate, but we need to move.
” I see my car heading down the shore on the winding road above.
“There’s Jimmy,” I tell my brothers as the black limo turns the corner and approaches the side of the dock.
We get in and the doors have barely closed before I rap on the front seat. “Drive, Jimmy, drive.”
Leandro hands out burners from the glove box. I take one and snug it behind my waist. “Let’s get this story straight. You were at home with Elsie, Leandro was in the house. You met with him and then read a book. Elsie saw you upstairs, talked to you.”
“Yes.” Her breathing is shallow and I’m not quite sure if she’s in shock or just stunned as hell, or even if there’s a fucking difference right now.
I just want to remove the worry from her face and never see it there again.
It’s like a soul-sucking shadow of grief that should have never been hers to bear.
I should have been the one to desecrate every fucking one of those men. My fucking fault.
The minute we get home, I take her upstairs and peel her clothes from her body while she stands there without saying a word.
I run her a bath to help her relax although a soak in the tub is no balm for taking a life.
I know it and so does she. “Soak, try to settle your nerves. I’ll have Elsie check on you in a minute and the doc will stop by after you’re done.
I have a few details to attend and then I’ll be back and explain everything to you.
At least what I know for certain. This was not your fault, Sophia.
There’s a lot more going on than any of us knew. ”
She’s quieter than I like, and nods. It is not easy to take a life when you are not a dark devil without a heart.
For someone who lives in the light, this will scar her soul for the rest of her days.
My jaw tightens with unleashed anger at the man at the top, the man who gave the order to hit my yacht and put Sophia in the dark right along with me.
I tip her chin upward, kissing her lips lightly as the bubbles foam around her beautiful breasts, swearing to myself that I am going to make this right, that I will make every last one of those fuckers pay if it’s the last thing in the world that I do.
But first, I need to make sure no trails of tonight lead to her.
My brothers and Jimmy stop talking as I enter my great room.
Tristano pours a Delmar into a crystal tumbler and hands it to me before drinking his own.
I turn to Jimmy, the one who has my back and would have been there if I hadn’t told him to take Mario and Enrico and watch Barcelo’s family and find out what the fuck they are up to.
“Who the fuck gave the order to hit my boat?” I growl.
Jimmy runs a hand through his hair. “I know you told me to stay with the others, but something didn’t sit right.
They were all acting too fucking perfect.
I had a couple men come back with me, but we were too late, they had already hit, but me and Len took out some of the men they left on the bank as a backup and protection.
They won’t be protecting shit anymore, but they did tell us what we wanted to know before we killed the fuckers. ”
I inhale a deep breath. Never have I felt the need for vengeance greater than I do now. Those fuckers took something from Sophia that I can never return, and for that, they will all fucking pay. “Tell me who gave the fucking order,” I growl.
The capo for our family knows my desire to see vengeance all too well but he also knows that nothing will stop me from getting to the fucker who took Sophia’s light. “Tell me, Jimmy.”
“The soldiers told us that Desiree’s father gave the order to hit your yacht in retaliation for you and your father breaking the deal to wed Desiree.”
My jaw locks tight. Arranged fucking marriages in this day and age, when the children don’t have any desire to wed, but the deals are tied to money and power.
Every fucking thing is about money and power.
“I’ll show her father exactly what his thirst for money and power will do.
I’ll burn everything he’s ever loved to the fucking ground. ”
Jimmy clears his throat. “Before you go off the deep end, boss. There’s more. The order he gave included taking Sophia’s life and that of her entire family as retribution for what he considers a slap in the face to his daughter.”
The blind rage in my veins fuels my need for revenge, but right now, there’s more important priorities. “Send every fucking soldier we have on the ground to defend the Cassone estate and everyone in it. Now! Do it fucking now!” I roar.
Jimmy’s mouth opens. “Boss? What about your dad? I get wanting to protect Sophia and her family but what about your dad? He’s going to have a fucking coronary.”
I’ll have to deal with that down the road. Right now, all I care about is protecting the light in Sophia’s eyes, the innocence that lights my dark-hearted soul, and if it means saving her fucking family, that’s what we’re going to do.
“I’ll deal with my father, you deal with the soldiers, send some of them to protect Sophia’s family with their life, capische?”